PHM-Exch> ] PRESS RELEASE: INDONESIAN ACTIVISTS STORM 25th RCEP TNC MEETING IN BALI

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: David G Legge <dlegge at phmovement.org>

*From:* rcepinfo-request at lists.riseup.net [mailto:
rcepinfo-request at lists.riseup.net] *On Behalf Of *IP Enrile

INDONESIAN ACTIVISTS STORM 25th RCEP TNC MEETING IN BALI
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/mdj1C0YZ4VuJvgo0cwjsru?domain=peopleoverprofit.online>

*(Follow link for pictures and video)*

25 Feb 2019, Bali --- Members of SERUNI women’s organization, Front
Perjuangan Rakyat (FPR), Papuan Student Alliance, and People Over
Profit-Indonesia stormed the 25th meeting of the Trade Negotiating
Committee of the Regional Comprehensive Partnership Agreement happening in
The Westin Resort, Bali Indonesia.

People’s organizations and civil society groups from across the region have
been at the forefront of opposing RCEP. According to Dewi Retno of women’s
group SERUNI RCEP “will worsen widespread poverty, injustice, and
inequality through its numerous chapters that mainly cater to the needs of
transnational corporations.”

*Workers at risk*

Through its services and investment chapters, RCEP will inevitably promote
the contractualization of labor and would mean a race to the bottom for
wages and labor standards. RCEP is set to further facilitate forced
migration and labor export as it neglects to address the root causes of
unemployment without prioritizing the development of key national
industries to produce home-grown quality jobs.

*Attack against farmers’ livelihood, IP rights *

The trade deal will violate farmers’ rights to seeds through provisions on
intellectual property that force member countries to join the UPOV 1991 –
essentially facilitating corporate ownership of seeds while restricting
seed access to poor peasants and farmers. Furthermore, RCEP will infringe
on the rights of indigenous peoples and farmers to land and resources,
their right to development and self-determination. Through its endorsement
of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), RCEP will further
deregulate destructive and extractive mining operations that harm the
environment and the people who depend on it.

*Health for profit*

Its investment and intellectual property chapters will undermine the
people’s right to health by restricting public access to health services
and access to cheap, life-saving medicines by extending patent rights and
allowing big pharmaceutical companies to monopolize drug production.

Like any 21st century FTAs, RCEP remains negotiated behind closed doors
with only corporate lawyers and lobbyists given full access to the text.
This lack of transparency and the absence of genuine and meaningful
participation of people’s organizations and civil society groups raises
concerns on the legitimacy of the negotiation process.

“Clearly, RCEP is merely a global capitalist tool that will drill this
region further down to poverty and misery. In return, RCEP will be met by
relentless rejection by the oppressed peoples of the global south leading
to its inevitable failure.” Retno concluded. ###

*#JUNKRCEP*
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/jt2JCgZovLtP6w05Ho-iJA?domain=facebook.com>
 *#TOLAKRCEP*
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/aLNhCjZryqtlEG51F53YQa?domain=facebook.com>
 *#RCEP*
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/n1wdCk8vzZUYlXW3s9JbkK?domain=facebook.com>



Ivan Phell Enrile
People Over Profit
ienrile at aprnet.org
peopleoverprofit.online
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20190225/093c4506/attachment.html>